Has Pope Francis Endorsed U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq? (10053)

WASHINGTON — Amid rising global alarm at the targeting of religious minorities by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), Pope Francis has ratcheted up the Holy See’s demands for “action” — including limited military intervention — by the international community.

“In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor,” Pope Francis stated, when asked if he supported U.S. airstrikes in Iraq during an Aug. 18 press conference on his return flight from Korea.

His statement offered fresh evidence that the Holy See no longer believes that dialogue, negotiations or even economic sanctions can stop the Islamic State (IS).

The Pope’s nuanced comments and formal statements not only mark a departure from the Vatican’s previous call for political and diplomatic solutions to the crisis in Iraq; they also suggest a shift in thinking about the merits of U.S. military intervention in Iraq, where a fragile government has failed to stop the jihadist organization from killing civilians and forcing religious minorities to flee their homes.

‘Very Different Circumstances’

When President George W. Bush approved the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Pope John Paul II was among his most vocal critics. But as the Islamic State solidifies control over a broad swath of territory that bridges Syria and northern Iraq, the Vatican is responding to very different circumstances that call for immediate action, say Church leaders and policy experts.

“Pope Francis is rightfully saying that there is a need to stop the aggression through the limited use of force by the proper authorities,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., told the Register.

“He would be quick to add that all the principles of just war still apply: Force … should be used only to stop the aggressor and not target innocent civilians.”

“If I am on the street, and I find someone attacking an innocent victim, I need to find ways to thwart the aggressor. Sometimes force is the only means” that will serve that purpose, he said.

Just months ago, the Holy See joined the United States and other Western nations to focus on the need for a democratically elected “unity” government in Iraq that would represent all religious communities, including Christians. But political wrangling delayed the formation of a new government, as ISIS advanced across northern Iraq.

By early June, tens of thousands of Christians had fled for their lives to Kurdistan, which has increasingly struggled to repel the ISIS juggernaut.

Patriarch’s Appeal

On Aug. 13, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad made a desperate appeal for the U.S. and the European Union to “clear” the Nineveh Plain of the fighters.

However, Pope Francis has not explicitly endorsed U.S. airstrikes. In his Aug. 18 press conference, and in his letter to the secretary general of the United Nations, the Pope called for collective action, under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Holy See and other Church leaders have struggled to bring their concerns about ISIS to the public square. Americans, according to opinion polls, have been wary of engaging new problems in Iraq, after the drawdown of U.S. troops from the previous war.

This week, however, Americans were forced to confront ISIS’ brutal tactics, after the jihadist organization released a video documenting the execution of U.S. journalist James Foley, who was beheaded.

On Aug. 19, the Obama administration acknowledged that a Delta Force unit had been deployed to rescue Foley and other U.S. citizens held by ISIS in Syria, but the mission failed.

Media reports have noted that some jihadist organizations raise funds to support their activities by kidnapping Europeans for ransom. The official policy of the U.S. government opposes any such transactions, and, reportedly, the White House refused to pay for Foley’s release.

Foley’s execution tragically highlights the Church’s concerns about ISIS and the threat it poses to innocent civilians. The news also provides further context for the Vatican’s urgent call for “action” to restrain the jihadist organization, rather than mere statements of condemnation of its human-rights abuses.

Can’t Stand on the Sidelines

Joseph Capizzi, a fellow at the U.S. Naval Academy and an associate professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America, said Pope Francis’ recent comments on the permissibility of force signal the importance of protecting “Christians and other religious minorities.”

Noting that some experts believe the Pope has offered tacit support for U.S. intervention in Iraq, Capizzi said that fast-moving events may have led the Holy Father to concede that “the U.S. is positioned with the British to do something immediately.”

Rusty Reno, the editor in chief of First Things, said there is no evidence that the Vatican has altered “its view of war and peace.”

Rather, said Reno, the Pope is responding to the “brutalities perpetrated by the Islamic State.”

“This is not a situation in which anyone imagines economic sanctions or forceful diplomacy will be effective. So the Holy Father calls for military action,” he said.

“Pope Francis knows that the Gospel call for peace can’t mean standing on the sidelines as the innocent are slaughtered.”

During his in-flight press conference and in previous statements, the Pope emphasized that the international community, under the auspices of the United Nations, should act in concert to stop ISIS and protect the vulnerable.

Pope Francis explained that collective action was better than unilateral action by one country, because the process of establishing common ground delineates the authentic goals of justified military intervention.

The Pope said, “One single nation cannot judge how you stop … an unjust aggressor,” and he said the United Nations was the proper forum for such deliberations.

That remark underscored the message of the Pope’s Aug. 13 letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that called for the international body to intervene in Iraq.

“In renewing my urgent appeal to the international community to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now under way, I encourage all the competent organs of the United Nations, in particular those responsible for security, peace, humanitarian law and assistance to refugees, to continue their efforts in accordance with the preamble and relevant articles of the United Nations Charter,” read the Pope’s letter to the U.N. secretary general.

Archbishop Tomasi Clarifies

Afterward, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, clarified the Vatican position and the Pope’s preference for common action under the auspices of the United Nations during an Aug. 13 interview with Vatican Radio.

“What seems to be particularly important in the letter of the Holy Father,” noted Archbishop Tomasi, “[are] the expressions that he uses: The tragic situation ‘compels’ the international community. There is a moral imperative so to (speak), a necessity to act.”

Archbishop Tomasi said the U.N. Charter allows for the use of force when entire groups of people are targeted, raising the possibility of genocide.

“In this case, when every other means has been attempted, Article 42 of the Charter of the United Nations becomes possible justification for … [a]ll the force that is necessary to stop this evil and this tragedy,” Archbishop Tomasi told Vatican Radio.

Yet, in contrast to the Vatican’s statements about the permissibility of force in Iraq, President Barack Obama used different arguments to justify the airstrikes on ISIS positions in northern Iraq. The goal of the mission, he said, was to protect U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq and to alleviate a humanitarian crisis on Mount Sinjar. Tens of thousands of Yazidis, members of another ancient religious minority in Iraq, fled to Mount Sinjar and were stranded without emergency supplies.

The White House's supporters argue that the president's refusal to set forth a plan for a broader engagement with Iraq reflects American concerns about the practical value and the costs of such involvement. Critics, on the other hand, contend that the United States' refusal to marshal its allies to address the challenge posed by ISIS has created a humanitarian crisis in both Syria and Iraq.

This week, the United Nations confirmed that the official death toll for the civil war in Syria that began in March 2011 had reached 191,369, and Western powers were blamed for failing to stop the carnage.

“The killers, destroyers and torturers in Syria have been empowered and emboldened by the international paralysis,” charged Navi Pillay, who leads the United Nations human rights office, in a statement to reporters. "The fact that the crisis has been allowed to continue for so long, with no end in sight, and is now spilling into neighboring Iraq and Lebanon, is “an indictment of the age we live in.”

Now, policy experts are waiting to see if the White House might reassess its goals in Iraq. For example, in statements following the execution of James Foley, the president also noted the targeting of Christians, among other groups, and it was unclear whether the administration had broadened the scope of its mission to include the eradication, rather than the containment, of ISIS.

Administration’s Inconsistency

“It’s very hard to find any consistency in the current administration’s statements on the use of force or in its action either,” said CUA’s Capizzi, echoing the criticism of a growing number of policymakers on Capitol Hill. “We need to make that case to our politicians: The current foreign policy in that region is a mess.”

Capizzi further emphasized that military intervention should be part of a broader strategy for addressing the threat posed by the jihadist organization, expressing concerns raised by the Holy See and the U.S. bishops, who have called for a U.S.-led effort to respond to the needs of displaced religious minorities.

Archbishop Kurtz called for a special collection “to provide humanitarian relief and pastoral support for our affected brothers and sisters in the Middle East,” to be held the first or second week of September.

“When President Obama announced the plans for U.S. airstrikes, his primary goal was the protection of U.S personnel and facilities in Iraq,” noted Michael Novak, the author and public intellectual who previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

“In fact, the brutality we are facing involves many more than Americans — Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, moderate Muslims and others,” Novak told the Register.

“This is a humanitarian crisis; we need to respond to that. And the protection of the innocent is the focus of the Pope’s efforts.”

Comments

Based on the news today [ISIS to start attacking the US with car bombs via Mexico], this may be what they were talking about: “total transformation of the United States” ... into a part of the Islamic socialist caliphate. And the American citizens and others seem oblivious.

Is anyone interested in this?

Posted by Tucson on Friday, Aug 29, 2014 3:17 AM (EST):

If anyone is interested in how all this came about and where it is going, read “American Betrayal” by Diana West.

It is a very recent book. And she shows how the current mess evolved out of the previous messes. If you visit Amazon, look it up.

In addition, type into the search line, the word ” venona “.

And read the descriptions and reviews of the books that come up.

Here in the United States, ONLY American citizens are required to take off their shoes and be searched.

In our own country.

On 9/11, our own airline pilots were forbidden to carry weapons to defend their airplanes.

We should be able to tie all these restrictions on U.S. citizens together. If you need more, look up and read Diana West’s weekly newsletter on line. And check out her previous book

Posted by Felix Rivera on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 4:17 PM (EST):

Joseph I agree with you 100% and I go a step further and declare that this is all instigated by the Israeli and American Zionists including the U.S. government; this will eventually lead to the colonization of Syria and then Jordan which are the two stumbling blocks that they have to control in order to create the NEW Jewish State of Israel.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 10:33 AM (EST):

@Kim: Proselytizing isn’t just “solemn nonsense”, it’s heresy.

Posted by Joseph on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 8:56 AM (EST):

Quote from http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-isis-menace-just-what-we-need-another-war/5397973
<Specialops.org (Elite Magazine for Elite Warriors) reports:
“Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials. The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.
The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.”>
Also, the good-looking, color-matched beige Toyota pickup trucks in which they invaded Iraq (the images are plastered all over the internet), those were given to ISIS as a gift, paid for by the US taxpayer.
Yep. The USA created, financed, and trained ISIS. The USA created this monster. We need a thorough congressional investigation into this affair, and we need to stop supporting terrorists once and for all.

Posted by Joseph on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 8:20 AM (EST):

We are in the early stages of invading SYRIA. Our leaders just acknowledged that the US military is flying reconnaissance flights in Syrian airspace, without the Syrian government’s permission. Pretty soon our bombs will start falling on Syria. So, here we are. Yet another war of aggression against another country, without a UN Security Council mandate, without international consensus or the international community’s approval, without approval from the US Congress, without a declaration of war. Yet another unjust war of aggression, per Catholic doctrine.
@Debbie, we absolutely did create, finance, and train ISIS. Shame on our leaders, who did this, and misled and misinformed the public about it. We are the arsonists who set Iraq and Syria’s house on fire through ISIS, and now we are invading Syria “to put out the fire”. I don’t believe for a second that our leaders are telling the truth, or that they are sincerely trying to help Syria. This is all about occupying Syria and toppling the Syrian government.
Pope Francis’s words apply more than ever. This is a war to conquer and colonize Syria, a war meant to overthrow the Syrian government and install a puppet regime, under the pretense of “freeing Syria”. Syria has a democratically elected government, and our war of aggression is not only against the Syrian government, it’s against the Syrian people who elected it.
@Debbie, I suggest you get your news from “Veterans Today”, “Global Research”, “Voltaire Network” websites (just enter search terms in your search engine) - everything is documented there in great detail, including the fact that we have been trying to get our war on Syria for more than 3 years now. First, we created this scourge of ISIS and sent the terrorists to fight against the Syrian government, and against the Syrian people in early 2011. Then, in August 2013, the terrorists used chemical weapons and our leaders lied, they said it was the government who did it, and the USA/NATO announced it was going to bomb Syria - but that attempt to bomb was foiled due to international uproar, due to Pope Francis calling for peace, due to Russian President Putin intervening and pushing for diplomacy instead of bombs. This is already the USA’s third attempt to get its war and regime change in Syria, this time using the excuse of fighting against ISIS terrorists.
And now even the mainstream media admits that the “James Foley beheading video” is fake. It was probably created by our own lying intelligence services, in order to manipulate public opinion in favor of war against Syria.

Posted by Debbie on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 6:28 AM (EST):

@Joseph: “ISIS is our own creation, just like Al Qaeda was our own creation. US Senator John McCain visited the ISIS terrorists in May 2013 and was photographed with ISIS terrorists in Syria. He was photographed with ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and with another terrorist who was later on filmed cutting out and eating a Syrian government soldier’s heart.”

Really? ISIS is our own creation, just like Al Qaeda was our own creation? First of all, Senator McCain denies that those photographs were taken with ISIS terrorists; he instead claims that those were Syrian rebels misidentified as ISIS fighters. But no matter. The point is that whether McCain misjudged the character of those with whom he met—those whom he THOUGHT OR MISJUDGED could be allies in a cause for good—is no reason for you to sight that as part of the reason that ISIS was formed and, ostensibly, later behave like animals by cutting out and eating someone’s heart. You are totally dismissing the element of deep rooted evil within the heart of some human beings. No matter what mistakes, no matter what corruption (and we all know there is plenty to go around within our government), there is NO EXCUSE for beheading men, women and children or crucifying them! ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, and all groups as vicious as these are not groups that are merely desperate to alleviate their own suffering that has taken place at the hands of others. They are groups which, spurred on by the wickedness that is within them, are actually enabled by the distracting and misleading rhetoric much like you are propagating. They take pleasure in absolute power over others, and any grievances are mere excuses spewed in order to satisfy a bloodlust within them that comes from the evil one, whom they obey. They hate Jews because they are Jews! They hate Christians because they are Christians. They hate the U.S. because we are infidels. They hate because they want to hate. That’s it! You are distracted from the immediate and central issue here. Rouse yourself from the entanglement that prevents you from seeing the death and destruction that has come upon the middle east and its innocent people, from the immediate need to eliminate an intolerable evil which the rest of the world cannot allow to fester and metastasize.

Posted by Tucson on Thursday, Aug 28, 2014 2:39 AM (EST):

More than 300 people died while trying to make irregular sea crossings from North Africa to Europe in the past week, bringing the death toll this year from sinking vesels on the Mediterranean to almost 1,900, including some 1,600 since June, according to UNHCR.

The passengers were mainly from Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sudan.

The main departure country for Europe is Libya, where the worsening security situation has fostered the growth of people smuggling operations, but also encouraged refugees and migrants to risk the sea journey rather than remain in a conflict zone.

Flemming noted that many of those risking their lives at sea to reach Europe were refugees fleeing conflict, violence and persecution.

Posted by Theresa H on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014 5:22 PM (EST):

I’m no expert in this subject, but it seems to me there is more than one reason for NOT turning over the “right to self-defense” of individual Nations to the United Nations. The usual/normal function of the UN is to broker for PEACE, not WAR!

Posted by Tucson on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014 7:27 AM (EST):

If you read “American Betrayal” by Diana West [and also do the background research from the references she provides] you learn that the Americans responsible for establishing the United Nations were Harry Hopkins and others who were MAJOR Communist agents in the United States, working out of the White House.

The United Nations was intended from the beginning to favor Soviet Communist aims and ambitions.

Read up!

Posted by Kim on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014 3:13 AM (EST):

We should all pray the rosary and ask the intercession of
St. James the Moor Slayer.

Posted by Kim on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014 3:09 AM (EST):

The pope says that his buddies at the U. N. should decide how to deal with ‘stopping’ ISIS.
Great idea!
They did such a good job with Rwanda!!

I wish the ‘pope’ would ‘dialogue’ with ISIS personally. He could show them ‘mercy.’
He could teach them about ‘properly reading the Koran’ and maybe even give it a kiss
or 2 like one of his predecessors did. Of course, he wouldn’t dare proselytize ISIS as that
would be solemn nonsense!!

Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 5:42 PM (EST):

JD, we need to stay away from unjust wars. Afghanistan and Iraq were unjust wars. The US-engineered bombing and regime change in Libya was unjust. Our support for Al Qaeda/Al-Nushra/ISIS terrorists in Libya, Syria, and Egypt were unjust. ISIS is our own creation, just like Al Qaeda was our own creation. US Senator John McCain visited the ISIS terrorists in May 2013 and was photographed with ISIS terrorists in Syria. He was photographed with ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and with another terrorist who was later on filmed cutting out and eating a Syrian government soldier’s heart.
Political analyst Tony Cartalucci likens the USA’s actions to an arsonist who sets someone’s house on fire, and then offers, and even insists, on entering his victim’s house in order to put out the fire. Should the victim trust the arsonist? Should the victim let the arsonist in? Because that’s exactly what the USA is trying to do now in Syria. The USA created ISIS (together with Israel, UK, Saudi Arabia), the USA trained and financed ISIS, John McCain visited ISIS and supported ISIS against the government in Syria. Now, the USA wants to bomb and invade Syria, in order to uproot ISIS. Yes, this is the arsonist who first sets your house on fire, and then uses the fire as an excuse to break into your house and rob you, under the pretense of coming to put out the fire which he, the arsonist himself started previously.

Posted by JD on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 3:51 PM (EST):

Bret and Joseph, you’re right, we have made a mess of things. But then again compared to the other games in town (the Nazis, the Soviets, the Islamists, etc) we actually fair pretty well. I wonder what you’d think of those fellows’ programs if we sat back and let them capture the world. One thing is for sure, you wouldn’t be free to criticize them.

Posted by Debbie on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 2:23 PM (EST):

We may have more than ISIS supporters here. That those who are fighting along side this vicious group have European passports and even some American passports has already been established. And though Americans may feel a sense of security at airports because we have become somewhat accustomed to showing photo IDs, taking off our shoes and belts, and making rabbit ears out of our pockets, a border patrol agent recently disclosed the fact that illegals are being allowed to bypass security and take domestic flights throughout this country. No wonder our senators with military backgrounds who have lived lives in the real world, those like Lindsay Graham and John McCain along with other ex-military men like Oliver North who have been interviewed seem gravely concerned about the goings on in this country, while the president of the United States flits about on a golf cart seeing ISIS as “JV” and himself as having “substantially improved the, uh, you know, the – the tranquility of the global community.” There are two very different views here. And perhaps at least concerning this one issue, we all WISH our president were correct in his strangely carefree assessment of things; but I think most of us know better.

There was a complaint that U.S. citizens must show ID and get searched before getting on an airliner.

Illegal aliens don’t need to do any of that.

[Have we yet begun to allow airline pilots to be armed?]

Posted by Theresa H on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 8:31 AM (EST):

It also concerns me that ISIS supporters are here in the USA quietly waiting for the right moment….

Posted by Sean on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM (EST):

The U.N. help Christians? Your kidding….yourself.
The UN has no track record of success stopping anything. They are observers with a few small arms as window dressing.
Nothing more. The UN idea is a cop-out. ISIS is comfortable with the fact that HHPF has not the stomach for what is needed to “stop” them.
Bet on it.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 5:35 AM (EST):

The only trouble is, other than Stalin in World War II, actually, I can’t think of a single time that a power took control of another nation “under this excuse of stopping the unjust aggressor”. Unless we’re going to go back to before there was a United Nations, and then we can perhaps talk about the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere (Japanese Imperialism), but I don’t think the Pope is referring to that.
-
Most of the annexations by powers since the inauguration of the UN has been naked power-grabs, with no serious pretense of “stopping the unjust aggressor”. And the UN, whose moral authority is being appealed to here, stood idly by and watched as Tibet, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and several others were brutally subjugated—because the savages of Soviet Russia and Communist China, EACH of which was a butcher equal to several Hitlers and Tojos COMBINED, are on the UN Security Council, almost like they were civilized people capable of humane impulses. They were not, and the latter still isn’t (modern Russia is only just barely civilized, but it’s a shining gleaming utopia of philosopher-kings compared to when it was Communist).

Posted by Tom in AZ on Monday, Aug 25, 2014 3:03 AM (EST):

@Jean: The only thing that’s been “proven” is that Saddam had every WMD we thought he did, including yellowcake uranium. WikiLeaks exists. Sorry, the “Bush lied” mythic CHANT is as dead and debunked as the four humors.
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And if by “wholesale slaughter” you meant the Iraq War, the Iraq War and the Afghanistan conflict have killed, on all sides, as many people as Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea in 1592—but we’ve been in Afghanistan for 13 years and were in Iraq for 8, while Hideyoshi was in Korea for SIX. “Less than half the kill-rate of a war where the most advanced weapons were rocket-propelled arrows and black powder bombards and muskets, in a war with machineguns and bombs”, is NOBODY’S definition of “wholesale slaughter”. It was absolute kid-gloves.
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Posted by Joseph on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014 4:44 PM (EST):

Here are Pope Francis’ words, in response to the journalist’s question of “do you approve of this American bombing (campaign)?” Answer by Pope Francis - quote: <In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor. I underscore the verb “stop.” I don’t say “to bomb” or “make war,” (but) “stop it.”>
So, the American forces bombing Iraq right now clearly do not have Pope Francis’ approval for their bombing campaign. Pope Francis’ further answer makes it clear that he wants an international effort under the auspices of the UN, to evaluate how to act, and he is especially cautioning against any single country (such as the USA) acting without international consensus, because that’s a standard recipe for manipulation and abuse. International analysts agree this is exactly what the USA is trying to do now: use the excuse of stopping an aggressor (stopping ISIS), in order to invade and conquer Syria, to topple President Bashar Assad and change the regime in Syria, and turn Syria into another disaster zone of permanent civil war and mayhem, just like the USA did previously in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Egypt. Anyone familiar with Syria knows that the Assad regime is a friend and protector of Syrian Christianity. However, should the USA succeed with its plan to use ISIS as the excuse to invade Syria and topple the Assad-regime, we can expect to see similar images in Damascus, Syria, as we are seeing now in Nineveh and Iraq: full-scale persecution of Christians and mass murder, a total wiping-out of Christianity from Damascus and Syria. So, why is the USA still so hell-bent on invading Syria, and toppling the Christian-friendly, democratically elected government of Syrian President Bashar Assad? The answer is this: Israel. The whole American Congress is bought and paid for by Israel, it is Israel’s puppet, Israel’s extended arm, and the current Israeli regime wants to depose Assad, it wants to de-stabilize or “Balkanize” Syria, just like it happened in Iraq.
Here’s Pope Francis speaking again - quote: <The means with which it can be stopped should be evaluated. To stop the unjust aggressor is licit. But we also have to have memory, as well, eh. How many times under this excuse of stopping the unjust aggressor the powers have taken control of nations. And they have made a true war of conquest. One single nation cannot judge how you stop this, how you stop an unjust aggressor. After the Second World War, there was the idea of the United Nations. It must be discussed there, and [the U.N.] said, “There’s an unjust aggressor; it seems so. How do we stop it?” Only that; nothing more.>

Posted by Debbie on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014 2:42 PM (EST):

It seems the pope thinks we should use the force necessary to stop Isis. The force necessary is obviously going to be the destruction of Isis. But, whether the Pope thinks we should go to war or not is not a doctrinal matter. Different popes may have differing opinions in a case such as this. One does not have to concur with every opinion of every pope. Any reasonable person must conclude that Isis must be destroyed—now—or the rest of the world will burn in its path. That is the moral choice the world faces, and we must have the courage to face that reality and decide if the world is worth saving. It is do or die. We can’t sit around and postulate for weeks, months or years while this maniacal group pillages, plunders and beheads its way across the globe. And as far as putting trust in the integrity of the UN . . . the mere thought disgusts me! Squanderers of billions of dollars, feigning shock and horror when rockets are discovered in schools in Gaza, then colluding with terrorists by putting those rockets right back into the hands of Hamas so that they can be aimed at Israeli cities; promoters of the murder of the unborn. The list is endless. And let’s face it. It’s much worse than getting advice from “dumb and dumber”! Ignorance and evil are not the same thing.

Posted by Jean on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014 12:02 PM (EST):

There is a marked difference between our invasion of a foreign country that was no threat to the US. It was started on trumped up, false information. That has been proven. Pope John Paul was correct.
This is entirely different. This Isis crowd are invading a countries, intentionally killing women, children and men in gross barbarian ways. On top of that these barbarians are destroying whole villages, murdering people because of their faith and or tribes. These people are current “” Muslim” hordes and need to be stopped…
The Pope will never ok wholesale slaughter. No one should. He does understand that these people are so barbaric that they are totally ignorant of diplomacy. So we must respond with serious force. May God protect our military men and women and Pope Francis

Posted by Tucson on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014 8:01 AM (EST):

If anyone seriously thinks this is new or that Islam spreads by peaceful means, then youall or theyall need to read this:

And remember the huge battles won by Christians in the past ... Tours, Lepanto, Vienna and etc.

And a huge number of participants ... starting with Andrea Doria.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 9:44 PM (EST):

@Bret: What do you mean, the last 60 years? Try the last 150. World War II was a fiasco; Roosevelt cheerfully handed over vast swaths of Europe to a butcher who killed five times as many people as Hitler. At the end of World War I, Woodrow Wilson was not only instrumental in the measures that led directly to the rise of Nazism, he also created the conditions in Yugoslavia that would eventually lead to the genocides there. And Commodore Perry and the way we ended Japan’s isolationism led, directly, to Japanese Imperialism. To say nothing about our Spanish and Phillipine wars, which are the only wars in American history (well, maybe also the Mexican one) that you can say were PURELY racist and imperialist. We’ve actually been getting BETTER in the last 60 years.

Posted by ER on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 9:29 PM (EST):

And I think this situation was the same situation when past Popes approved the CRUSADES to free the Holy Land from these barbarians!

Posted by Tom in AZ on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 9:10 PM (EST):

@Felix Rivera: That Christians benefited by the vicious butchery of Saddam Hussein is a shame to them, not to the US. That Obama completely botched the aftermath of the entirely justified removal of Saddam is a shame to him, not to the US. And that you are an anti-Semite (or someone who doesn’t understand the perfectly pragmatic reasons Gentiles would want there to be a Jewish homeland) is a shame to you, not to anyone here.
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Posted by Felix Rivera on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 7:42 PM (EST):

Bret, I agree with you that the editorial staff of the National Catholic Register as well as other Catholic media outlets have in fact succumbed to the Israeli Zionists. It’s as if they are afraid of the Israeli controlled world media and being labeled anti-Semitic. It is now their objective to even take Pope Francis words out of context to promote more wars. Why don’t they address the plight of the Palestinian Christians of Palestine and or why don’t they address the fact that before the illegal invasion of Iraq and under Sadam Hussein the Catholic Christians were allowed the freedom to worship freely without any fear and that this was destroyed by the Zionists in the U.S. support of the illegal invasion.

Posted by Tucson on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 4:51 PM (EST):

Revisit wars of days gone by such as the Battle of Lepanto, the Battle of Tours, the Battle of Vienna and many others designed to liberate Christianity from Islam.

The pope should admonish all Catholics to pray the Rosary every day for the conversion of ISIS and the world. The real battle is a spiritual battle between Heaven and hell and requires a spiritual weapon.

Posted by Joseph on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 3:12 PM (EST):

I second Bret, the Pope has NOT given thumbs up to the USA to intervene with its usual means - bomb, bomb, bomb, and invade. Invade Iraq and INVADE SYRIA. The Pope hasn’t given his thumbs up to any of this! We must stop mis-interpreting the Pope and putting words into his mouth!
The Pope is calling for the UN to get involved - not the same LYING CRIMINALS who control US foreign policy, who tricked us into the unjust war against Iraq, based on outrageous fabrications, lies and fairy tales of Saddam’s WMDs and uranium ore purchase from Niger. The Pope is not calling on the same LYING CRIMINALS in Washington DC to call the shots on invading Iraq, and INVADING SYRIA, who in August 2013 brought us the OUTRAGEOUS LIE of “Syria’s government is using chemical weapons, now let’s bomb Syria, let’s do regime change”.
It is high time for the war-addicted and war-mongering American Catholics to start listening to their Pope, AND STOP TWISTING HIS WORDS!
Last time we invaded Iraq in 2003, while Pope John Paul II was strongly criticizing us for engaging in an unjust war, how did that work out for us?
Do we want now more of the same, and make no mistake, this is ALL ABOUT BOMBING AND REGIME CHANGE IN SYRIA?! Can we say S-Y-R-I-A?
S-Y-R-I-A, that’s the name of the game, and we are being lied to and manipulated again, just like we had been lied to and manipulated last time against Iraq.
So, here’s what we can do to STOP THIS CHARADE, and it doesn’t require us to commit yet another unjust war, this time by bombing and regime-changing SYRIA, like we did previously to Iraq. Start a Congressional investigation into who’s funding the terrorists in Libya/Syria/Iraq, and why was John McCain photographed with the very same ISIS terrorists in Syria in May 2013, who are now being used as an excuse to soften up the American public for bombing, invading, and regime-changing SYRIA. What the hell was John McCain doing in Syria, meeting with terrorists, and why are we, the USA, financing and training terrorists? Stop funding the terrorists with our tax dollars, stop training them, and demand our allies, Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, to stop recruiting and providing safe haven and training camps to terrorists.
Last, but not least, STOP PUSHING FOR BOMBING, INVASION, AND REGIME CHANGE IN S-Y-R-I-A. Leave the Syrian people alone. They recently had free elections and they overwhelmingly re-elected Bashar Assad. We have no God-given authority to invade SYRIA and depose their democratically elected government.

Posted by Donald Smock on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 3:05 PM (EST):

By all means do not remove this article as we need reporting on Catholic matters & the Pope & from a Catholic viewpoint !The United States has NOT been proven inept militarily, there is convincing evidence that at least some of ISIS’ funding is from The Saudis and the Turks, any refugees should go through the normal immigration process like anybody else (Bret will you give some refugees a home and job?) and the “use of violence” is at times an unfortunate necessity as is the case with these islamofascist thugs.For far too long Christians have been being brutalized and murdered all over the world and far too often by Muslims.That is why there are groups such as Aid to the Church in Need and The Voice of the Martyrs.

Posted by DJ Hesselius on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 1:20 PM (EST):

I have no problem with finding out who is funding ISIS (House of Saud, Qatar, perhaps), but I think you will find that means that the US government must give up this silly idea called “foreign aide,” not just weapons, but any type of “humanitarian aide,” loan guarantees and whatnot to build “infrastructure” (usually billed and schools and hospitals) and food as well. Not sure that is going to go over so well with Pope Francis.

Posted by Donald Smock on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 12:48 PM (EST):

I strongly disagree with the request that this article be “removed” - we need news from a Catholic point of view and we need reporting on the Pope’s comments on current world events, especially when Christians are being murdered and persecuted such as they are in Iraq.Furthermore I also take exception to the opinion voiced by the same person requesting the suppression of the article that the United States “...over the last 60 years, has all but proven itself inept in matters of intervention and restoration of justice….”, and to the suggestion to “...accept the 50% of refugees who now wish to immigrate…” until the necessary background investigation has been completed (i.e. a normal immigration process). It begs the question also - Bret are you willing to give a home and job to some of these refugees? Or is this suggestion of the sort that “somebody aught to” variety? Lastly the “...use of violence..” is unhappily sometimes necessary and with these islamofascist murderous thugs it certainly seems to be the only response that will work.Christians have been getting murdered and persecuted all over the world for decades (mostly by Muslim murderers) - the reason for the existence of such groups as e.g. Aid to the Church in Need, and The Voice of the Martyrs !

Posted by Peter on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 12:22 PM (EST):

With all due respect to the Holy Father, He better support military action in what ever form, else one day there will be a mosque atop Saint Peter’s.

Posted by stilbelieve on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 11:58 AM (EST):

And what about those who have been taken captive, Christin women and children, by the Islam radicals? How are they going to be rescued if not by invading?

Posted by Ed on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 11:57 AM (EST):

Bret, many people misunderstand Francis’ words for the simple reason that he is loose in his talk; he needs a Vatican interpreter to say what he means after every utterance. In any event, that is not the point. Chesterton correctly pointed out what anyone who reads the Bible would discover about Christ’s position on, inter alia, war. “For
instance, he would not find the ordinary platitudes in favour of peace.
He would find several paradoxes in favour of peace. He would find
several ideals of non-resistance, which taken as they stand would be
rather too pacific for any pacifist. He would be told in one passage to
treat a robber not with passive resistance, but rather with positive and
enthusiastic encouragement, if the terms be taken literally; heaping up
gifts upon the man who had stolen goods. But he would not find a word of
all that obvious rhetoric against war which has filled countless books
and odes and orations; not a word about the wickedness of war, the
wastefulness of war, the appalling scale of the slaughter in war and all
the rest of the familiar frenzy; indeed not a word about war at all.
There is nothing that throws any particular light on Christ’s attitude
towards organised warfare, except that he seems to have been rather fond
of Roman soldiers.” G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man.

Posted by Madonna Hood on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 11:56 AM (EST):

The only way to stop these individuals is to defeat this individuals and to say: Stop them but don’t hurt them or kill them or bomb them, is just an example of not wanting to actually make that decision. News flash….if you want to stop someone who doesn’t understand anything but brutality, then you have to use brutality. That old saying about don’t bring a knife to a gun fight applies. If ISIS believes enough in their cause to behead a journalist who isn’t fighting them, raping and pillaging of churches and mosques and temples, then we had better believe enough in our cause to defeat them.

Posted by Kenny on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 11:34 AM (EST):

Why doesn’t this pope do something himself useful regarding the mess in the Middle East. For example, why doesn’t Francis call for a concerted effort by the Catholic Church to christianize the Muslims who are lost due their adherence to that false and barbaric religion called Islam?

Doesn’t the pope believe in the Church’s prime mission?

Or is he just a run of the mill coward who will safely criticize capitalism in the West for the speck in its eyes while ignoring the plank in the eye of the Muslims?

Posted by Theresa H on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 10:55 AM (EST):

As far as I know, the Church has never denied the “right” to “self-defense.” Today, with the instruments of aggression that are available—like never before—“self-defense” has grown to include a wider range of “defense” (family > city > nation(s) endeavors. Previous Popes have called for “PEACE” repeatedly….Of course, we prefer peace, but, again the right of people to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” cannot endure under aggression.

Posted by Jane on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 10:26 AM (EST):

The Catholic Church is not 100% against war (CCC 2309) or the death penalty (CCC 2267). We have an obligation to avoid war, but if it breaks out, we are to follow the precepts of “Just War Theory” and avoid “practices deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles” (CCC 2328) so as not to perpetrate war crimes that are grave sin.

Posted by Bret on Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 8:15 AM (EST):

I am afraid the writer of this article has misread the Pope. Please remove this article and stop misinterpreting the Holy Father’s words. He very clearly stated that such attacks lead to more innocent deaths, and this cannot be. He calls us to STOP what is going on. He is not giving the United States the thumbs up to continue on with its ususl means of intervention. I hate to say this, but the United States, over the last 60 years, has all but proven itself inept in matters of intervention and restoration of justice.

We, for our part, MUST find out who is funding ISIS and accept the 50% of refugees who now wish to immigrate, and be bold with the power of God. The Pope himself is considering a visit. God Bless him for his true faith in God, and for believing that God’s Kingdom is advanced in mercy and blessing; not through the use of violence.

Posted by DJ Hesselius on Friday, Aug 22, 2014 5:08 PM (EST):

“I underscore the verb ‘stop’. I don’t say ‘to bomb’ or ‘make war,’ [but] ‘stop it,’” the Pope added
.
And how does he propose to stop them unless they are bombed or made war on?
.
One idea: he go there himself (with no “popemobile”), carrying the Eucharist in one hand and the Papal Cross/Rosary in another, call ISIS to repent, and make it stop that way, but not sure he nor anyone else at the Vatican will go with that idea.

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